The West Bengal government on Wednesday shot off an angry letter to the Damodar Valley Corporation for releasing huge amount of water over the past few days, flooding several villages in Burdwan, Howrah and Hooghly districts.

Confirming the report, a state government official said that the step was taken after two days of heavy rainfall which has flooded several parts of Bengal.

“DVC authorities have released more than 24,000 cusecs of water on Tuesday. We have cautioned them against releasing any more water,” said the official.

Meanwhile, state Irrigation Minister Rajib Banerjee maintained that further irrigation threatens to “inundate a vast area in south Bengal”.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also expressed her displeasure over the DVC releasing water without the state government’s consent.

“The CM, who is now in Germany, is very concerned about the situation following torrential rain over the last two days. On her advice, I have written a strongly-worded letter to the DVC authorities, asking them not to release more water and wait until the water level reaches the extreme danger mark,” said the minister.

The DVC authorities could not be contacted for comment in this regard.

Meanwhile, the Met department has forecast heavy rain in five districts of south Bengal till Thursday as a low pressure that was existing over Gangetic West Bengal was moving over to Bihar and Jharkhand.

According to the Met Department, Sriniketan in Birbhum district received 82.2 mm rainfall, the highest in 24 hours from 8.30 am on Tuesday.

Neighbouring Bankura and Asansol received 39.8 mm and 60.4 mm rainfall during the same period, the Met department said. Kolkata, which received scanty rainfall despite an overcast sky on Wednesday, recorded the day’s highest temperature at 31.8°C, a notch below average.